It's FRIIIIIIIDAY - whoop de doo!

Morning readers,

Thought it was time to share a whimsical ATC with you since I had this fabulous chicken image .....

My Artist Trading Card

And a closer view of the colouring, doodling and sentiment

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in white and deep red
• On the white snippet I stamped the chicken image using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Derwent coloursoft pencils used to colour
• I then fussy cut the chicken before adhering to my red panel
• Momento sentiment (34431-R8) stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• White Sakura gelly roll gel pen used to doodle a border and to highlight the sentiment
• Mod Podge dimensional gloss used to add texture and shine to the "puddle" and boots
• Wink of Stella clear glitter gel brush pen to accentuate the image

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Through The Craft Room Door - October 23rd challenge - ANYTHING GOES - 2nd entry
2. Cute 'n Crafty - challenge No. 12 - ANYTHING GOES - 2nd entry
3. Sisterhood of Crafters - October 24th challenge - HUMOUR .. well, this image makes ME chuckle!
4. Crafty Creations - challenge No. 377 - ANYTHING GOES
5. Southern Girls - October 18th challenge - CRITTER CRAZY

And now for a masculine card .... I was asked to make a selection of cards suitable for a number of occasions but to leave them blank ....

My card

And, perhaps, a better view of the image panel

  

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of grey card, cut to mat
• Low tack masking tape, to mask off a panel for stencilling
• Nellie Snellen's Man Things (CSMT004 - "Airplane") stamped using Memento tuxedo black including on to a post it which I then cut out to use as a mask.
• With my mask in place and using a Tim Holtz blending tool and foam pad I applied Distress Ink (salty ocean) through the sunburst stencil (THMST005 - set #5) and then faded jeans through the crocodile stencil (THS022) and then the number stencil (THMST007 - set #7) - setting with a quick spray of Krylon matte fixative, to protect the water based inks in transit

I'll be entering the above for the following challenges:-

1. Make My Monday - challenge No. 82 - NUMBERS GAME
2. Back To Basics - challenge No. 14 - ANYTHING GOES (MUST use a stencil) - 3rd entry
3. The House That Stamps Built - challenge No. 2418 - ANYTHING GOES

And now, since yesterday was Rudolph Day, I have a Christmas card to share with you ....

My Christmas card

  

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of navy card, cut to mat
• Snippets of card in both white and navy, for my sentiment
• Image and sentiment (MFT CS-342 "Tweet Holidays") stamped using Memento tuxedo black
• Derwent coloursoft and Prismacolour scholar pencils used to colour image
• Wink of Stella clear glitter gel brush pen to add a subtle twinkle to the hats and scarf
• Stardust stickles to embellish the pom poms on the hat and the snow

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Scraps of Life - October Rudolph Day - ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES
2. The Holly and The Ivy - challenge No. 39 - ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES - 2nd entry
3. Papercraft Challenge - challenge No. 23 - INSPIRED BY A SONG - 2nd entry - I went with Rockin' Robin!
4. WaterCooler Wednesday - challenge No. 193 - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS
5. Fab 'n Funky - challenge No. 413 - CHRISTMAS

I hate to end a post on sad news but ..... Happy Little Stampers is closing it's doors, always a shame to hear of a stamp company going out of business. If you like their stamps and dies though, you could snag yourself a bargain as they are having a closing down sale - the sale even includes MISTI products ... just sayin'

Welcome to Saturday .....

Hi there,

Hope your weekend is starting off well.

Using new stash usually promotes the wellbeing of my  mojo and this week's acquisition of one of the Paper Artsy mini's has proven no exception .... in fact, I've seldom had so much fun with new stash!

My card

And a closer view of my pencil coloured image

The front and back of my card and front of my envelope

The inside of my card and reverse of my envelope

Materials used:

• White 17½ x 12½cm, 300gsm, scalloped edge card and matching sized envelope
• Red card cut to 16½ x 11½cm and 8 x 11cm
• White card cut to 16 x 11cm and 7½ x 10½cm
• Red satin dotty ribbon 
• Paper Artsy ZN08 image stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Unknown manufacturers sentiment (it MAY have been dimension but I'm not sure, it's shown below with the wooden handle - if anyone knows for sure then please add in comments) and Costco numeral image stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• Derwent Coloursoft pencils used to colour, blended with sansodor and a paper stump - I'm having fun with these pencils and I'd LIKE to think that my colouring may even be improving!
• Stardust stickles to highlight and Plaid dimensional gloss to give him a shiny, healthy nose!

I'll be entering the above for the following challenges:-

1. Crafty Gals Corner - challenge No. 112 - ADD RIBBON
2. Inky Chicks - challenge No. 79 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY
3. Seize The Birthday - March 2nd challenge - ANYTHING (Birthday) GOES
4. Aud Sentiments - challenge No. 174 - ANYTHING GOES + A SENTIMENT
5. Cute Card Thursday - challenge No. 467 - ANYTHING GOES

Then it was on to my next make ..... a slight change for me as I'm not a big user of dies but ......

My card

And a closer view

The back and front of my card and front of my envelope

The inside of my card and the reverse of my envelope

Materials used:

• White 18 x 12½, 300gsm,card and matching sized envelope
• Two white card panel cut to 11½ x 17cm
• Teal card cut to mat with 1.6mm border and the offcut die cut in to "HAPPY" and "BIRTHDAY" using Stamplorations dies which I then ran through my Xyron sticker maker to add adhesive
• Paper Artsy foliage from JOFY12 set stamped using Versafine onyx black ink
• For the sentiment inside, on the reverse and envelope I stamped my Creative Expressions (from Urban Beats) using Brilliance pearlescent jade ink
• Stardust stickles and faux crystal gemstones used to bling up the foliage

I'll be entering this for the following challenges:-

1. Simply Less Is More - challenge No. 318 - MAINLY TEAL
2. Cut It Up - challenge No. 116 - ANYTHING (Birthday) GOES - MUST use die cuts
3. Creative Knockouts - challenge No. 183 - USE DIES OR PUNCHES
4. Crafty Addicts - challenge No. 34 - ANYTHING GOES/CLEAN AND SIMPLE
5. CASe this sketch - challenge No. 211 - SKETCH .. see below

And, I discovered that my entry for the LIM challenge No. 316 (Theme - Alphabet) was showCASed  by the LIM Design Team - really rather thrilled, thank you so much, you can see the card they chose below.

  

Today sees the birthday of a pal of mine and tomorrow another pal celebrates so please join me in wishing Jan and Wynneth a very

It's the last Friday of 2016 and time to announce this year's winner ..

Morning all

Welcome to the last Friday of 2016, bringing us to the last weekend of 2016 and with Saturday being New Years Eve I suspect that many of you will have party's to go to or hose - hope you have a great time and that 2017 will be simply BRILLIANT for you and your creativity!

A few short days ago (Christmas Day in fact) I shared a Clean And Simple card design using my Dina Wakely star image and saying it was (IMHO) virtually foolproof and that I might use it again, perhaps deploying silver and navy or black .... actually I went with grey and navy and I think it's safe to say that this one has a more masculine feel to it.

My card

The front and back of my card

The inside of my card and reverse of my envelope

Materials used:

• White 10cm square, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two white card panels cut to 9 and 9½cm square
• One navy card panel cut to 9½cm square
• Dina Wakely star image stamped using Versafine smokey grey ink
• Anita's sentiment stamped using Ranger Archival jet black ink
• Kaisercraft small splat stamped using Ranger Archival cobalt blue ink
• Stardust stickles used to highlight the lines of the star
• Some of you may notice that my glue (Silicon glue for a change rather than my more quick drying tombow) allowed me to slip my image panel slightly askew ... no mistakes in art!!
• White gelly roll gel pen used to doodle a border on the odd margin side .. and BINGO!

I will be entering this make for the following challenges:-

1. Penny's challenges - challenge No. 309 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Through The Craft Room Door - December 27th challenge - ANYTHING GOES
3. Tuesday Morning Sketches - challenge No. 383 - ANYTHING GOES

And now, since it is Friday you've probably stopped by to see the last Friday Funny of 2016 .... the Friday Funny has been a regular feature on my blog for several years but it is with some sadness I have to announce that this will be the last of my REGULAR Friday Funny posts. 2016 saw me trawling the internet and facebook for almost half my Friday Funny's as I just don't seem to get the circulating funny mails any more. So, today's will be the last and I shall announce the winner of my last FF prize draw at the end of this post. I should like to thank those of you who have supported my posts and especially to those who have submitted Funnies for use - THANK YOU. It should be pointed out that, IF I get some really good ones then I shall pop along and feature them on my blog .. we'll see how that works out

This week's comes to you courtesy of a trading card pal, PatG - so, I literally got it off Pat!!!

Why You Shouldn't Lie

A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."

The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Several hands went up.

The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying." 

And the winner of the Friday Funny prize draw for 2016 is:

And the section from my spreadsheet (below) indicates the winner (No. 27) to be SANDRAT, Congratulations, your prize will be on its way very soon

25	Jun 17th	Lesley T
26	Jun 24th	Marsha
27	Jul 1st	SandraT
28	Jul 8th	Marsha

Welcome to Snippet Sunday!

Morning readers,

How's your weekend shaping up? We had a lovely evening with friends yesterday and I've woken full of creativity (and still full from last night's meal at the BBQ restaurant) .... ready to ink up NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff .. courtesy of Darnell) .... here's today's make ..

My card

A closeup view to show the fab sparkle of those diamond stickles!

The front and back of my card and front of my envelope

The inside of my card and reverse of my envelope

Materials used:

• White C6/A2, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to 3.75" x 5" and 4" x 5.25"
• One piece of black card cut to 4" x 5.25"
• Snippets of card in white, black and some leftover wrapping paper from IKEA!
• CAS-ual Friday image stamped on to snippet using Versafine onyx black ink (I wanted a really black image)
• Stampendous sentiment stamped using Ranger Archival jet black ink
• Black Faber Castell Pitt pen used to doodle a border on the larger white snippet
• Diamond stickles used to highlight my graphic image panel

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Pixie's Crafty Workshop - challenge No. - USE SNIPPETS
2. Fairytale challenge - challenge No. 154 - MONOCHROMATIC
3. Create and Inspire - challenge No. 55 - ANYTHING GOES

I also spotted that I won last weeks prize over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop so, THANK YOU Di, off to e-mail you now.

Now, today sees the 90th birthday of a pal - Sir Andy of Stafford so please join me in wishing him a very

Welcome to the start of another week .. and a birthday party

Morning peeps

Hope you all had a great weekend, I did, what with heading out with friends on Saturday and going out to dinner again on Sunday - the sun was shining too ... it doesn't get better than this.

Here's another ATC - I'm building up my stocks once more, it's been ages since I made mane and then, all of a sudden, I can hardly stop myself! And what a GREAT way to use up snippets too!

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in white (one scrap piece for the background and one for the stamped image), black and navy
• White gesso applied to the white card and set aside to dry
• Baby wipe applied to the gesso'd snippet and then Crayola Slick Stix scribbled over and blended with a finger. I used yellow, orange and a little purple
• Using the same baby wipe and a TCW stencil I knocked back the colour using a couple of the sections
• Stampers Anonymous crazy bird stamped twice, once on to the coloured panel and once on to white card which I then coloured using alcohol markers before cutting out (I didn't bother cutting the tail, legs or "quiff" as I stuck my coloured bird directly over the bird stamped on to the coloured panel - cheating? MAYBE! Easier? DEFINITELY!)
• Stampers Anonymous sentiment stamped using Ranger Archival jet black ink
• White gel pen to highlight the bird and to doodle a border on the black layer

I'll be entering this for the following challenges:-

1. WeLove2Create (pan pastels) - challenge 10 - ANYTHING (mixed media) GOES (crayons, stamping, gel pen doodling, alcohol markers - CHECK!)
2. Stamping Sensations - May challenge - ANYTHING GOES
3. Hiding in my craft room - challenge No. 250 - SUPERSCRAP SATURDAY - use scraps to get creative (4 snippets of card - CHECK!)
4. Crafty Calendar - May challenge - THINGS WITH WINGS (Crazy Birds - CHECK!)
5. Polkadoodles - Challenge No. 18 - THINGS WITH WINGS (As above - CHECK!)

Today also sees the 70th birthday of my non crafting pal Dawn and also 50th birthday of Sandie (of London Days blog) and there will be a surprise challenge/birthday party to help her celebrate - you can join in here - HAVE A GREAT DAY, Sandie

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both

Welcome to another challenge Saturday post

Hey there readers, how's your weekend coming along?

As most of my regular readers and followers will know I usually like to spend my Saturday mornings (family commitments permitting) making challenge cards and there are a couple of challenges I really try to enter most weeks. This week is NO different, despite the fact that we (that's the Royal "WE" since my dear hubs does it all - I'm not trusted with a paint or paste brush!) are decorating! .......

My card

And a closer view of the image panel

The insert, front and back of the card and envelope

Materials used:

• White C6/A2, 250gsm, card blank and envelope
• Two 9 x 13½cm white card panels
• Two 9.4 x 13.9cm black card panels
• Snippets of card in white, orange and black
• Taking the white card snippet I applied Distress Ink in peacock feathers, using an egg shaped sponge
• Paper Artsy splatter image stamped using Tsukineko Delicata golden glitz ink
• The panel was then run through my Big Shot inside the Swiss dot embossing folder
• Crafters companion Spray and Shine applied to seal this and the insert and envelope
• For the envelope I added splatters in Adirondack sunset orange and the Distress Ink in peacock feathers, to co-ordinate with my image panel
• Stampers Anonymous sentiment stamped using Ranger Archival jet black ink

I'll be entering the above for the following challenges:-

1. Simply Less Is More - challenge No. 264 - ADD SOME TEXTURE
2. Crafting with Dragonflies - challenge No. 51 - BIRTHDAY CARD
3. Friday Mash Up - challenge No. 243 - BIRTHDAY or STENCILS or BOTH
4. Creative Moments - challenge No. 87 - WET or DRY EMBOSSING
5. Allsorts - challenge No. 351 - BIRTHDAY

For fans of mixed media and CAS there's a new challenge blog on the block .... first challenge will be appearing March 1st, it's being run by Loll and Bonnie and it's called CAS mix up ... and will involve CAS designs, a mix of mediums and/or technique, stamping will be a must. Sound perfect - well then, save the link in your favourites and stand by for March 1st!!! You have been warned!

Nipped out to our local mall yesterday and caught up with a pal though it was so blimmin' hot in there that when she offered me coffee all I could face was iced water! At least I'm cheap to keep! Also caught up with the 13' high Gromit and a couple of funky hippos!

Hippo's? I wasn't expecting Hippo's!!!

  

He is pretty huge!

Have a great weekend